Taps & Toilets: local service levels

VPUU has partnered with Formula D interactive, a systems design company, to facilitate a digital reporting workflow which can monitor the functional status of items such as communal taps so as to enhance access to services for affected communities. In the case of taps the functional service level has profound impacts on the health and sanitation situation in a community.

Monwabisi park has pour-flush toilets, you need to use a bucket of water to flush. If the single adjacent tap is broken then serious health problems result.

The initial goals of the project were to facilitate fault reporting to the City, to streamline task allocation to Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) workers, to improve the turn-around-time for repairs (especially for critical taps) and to engage the community in service delivery.

In practice, Cityspec has built partnerships between line departments and communities. Rapid response times from line department teams are welcomed by communities where communal resources are shared by many households.

The app maintained a current, geo-located and attributed asset register in a cloud based database which keeps current and historical data accessible to all administrators.

The pilot project resulted in an evidence based measurement of significantly higher functional service levels over time.

When combined with mapping households Cityspec validates local service levels. Local service levels acknowledge the difficulties faced when accessing services in other parts of a settlement. Poor lighting, distance and the threat of violence make proximity of services a critical issue.

Paperless/wireless system results in real-time data works with auditing trails, similar paper based project have failed owing to delays and errors in forwarding data.